One With the Whale

For a few weeks, 16-year-old Chris Apassingok, a member of the Yupik tribe living on frigid St. Lawrence Island off the coast of Alaska, celebrated harpooning his first whale, which meant not only his passage into manhood but also supplying the village with food for several months. But shortly after his mother proudly posted pictures of the kill on social media, Chris and his family were hit with a barrage of vicious, hateful messages from a faraway environmental group, sending the teenager into a spiral of depression. To achieve their beautifully-photographed, intimate, and gripping documentary, environmental activist Jim Wickens and filmmaker Peter Chelkowski collaborated with tribal members to highlight the struggle to keep their culture alive as it is battered by both climate change, which has reduced the marine life they depend on for food, and by affluent outsiders with little respect for indigenous traditions.  For its powerful and poignant portrayal of an indigenous people struggling to survive against hostile forces, natural and otherwise, One With the Whale wins a Peabody Award.